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Constant and Variable Capital 1598 constant and variable capital constant and variable capital Macmillan. Palgrave 1 Definition In Das Kapital Marx defined Constant Capital as that part of capital advanced in the means of Licensee: production; he defined Variable Capital as the part of capital advanced in wages (Marx, 1867, Vol. I, ch. 6). These definitions come from his concept of Value: he defined the value of permission. commodities as the amount of labour directly and indirectly necessary to produce commodities without (Vol. I, ch. 1). In other words, the value of commodities is the sum of C and N, where C is the value of the means of production necessary to produce them and N is the amount of labour used distribute that is directly necessary to produce them. The value of the capital advanced in the means of or production is equal to C. copy However, the value of the capital advanced in wages is obviously not equal to N, because it not may is the value of the commodities which labourers can buy with their wages, and has no direct You relationship with the amount of labour which they actually expend. Therefore, while the value of the part of capital that is advanced in the means of production is transferred to the value of the products without quantitative change, the value of the capital advanced in wages undergoes quantitative change in the process of transfer to the value of the products. This is the reason why Marx proposed the definitions of constant capital C and variable capital V. The definition of constant capital and variable capital must not be confused with the definition of fixed capital and liquid capital. Fixed capital is a part of constant capital which is www.dictionaryofeconomics.com. totally used in production process but transfers its value to products only partially. Liquid capital is a part of constant capital which is totally used up and transfers its whole value within one Economics. production process. So constant capital is composed of both fixed capital and liquid capital, and of on the other hand liquid capital belongs partly to constant capital and partly to variable capital. Marx introduced the concept ‘value-composition of capital’, μ, which is defined as the ratio Dictionary of constant capital C to variable capital V: Palgrave C New μ ≡ . (1.1) The V Marx knew well that the value composition of capital reflects not only material characteristics of the process of production but also the social relationship between capitalists and labourers. In Macmillan. fact definition (1.1) can be rewritten as ©Palgrave CN μ = ⋅ (1.2) NV 1599 constant and variable capital C/N reflects the character of the process of production and N/V reflects the class relationship between capitalists and labourers. C/N is the ratio of the amount of labour necessary to produce the means of production to the amount of labour directly bestowed, which is completely Macmillan. determined by the material condition in the process of production, while N/V is the ratio of the amount of labour which labourers actually expend to the amount of labour that is necessary in Palgrave order to produce commodities which labourers can purchase with their wages. If labourers are forced to work longer with less wages, this ratio must rise. Licensee: Marx proposed to call the value-composition of capital, insofar as it is determined by the material condition of the process of production, ‘the organic composition of capital’. More permission. explicitly, ‘The value-composition of capital, inasmuch as it is determined by, and reflects, its technical composition, is called the organic composition of capital’ (Capital, Vol. III, ch. 8). without However, as shown above, the value composition of capital is not determined by the material distribute condition of the process of production alone. So it is better to introduce the ratio C/N in the place or of the organic composition of capital, which is determined only by the material condition in the copy process of production. In order to avoid confusion, I call this ratio the ‘organic composition of not production’. This is the ratio of dead labour to living labour, which Marx himself frequently used may in Das Kapital. You 2 Variable Capital and Source of Profit In contrast to Smith, Ricardo and others, Marx attached great importance to analysis to find the source of profit. He found that source in surplus labour, which is the excess of labour expended by labourers over the value of commodities which labourers can obtain with their wages (Capital, vol. I, ch. 5). Using the notation introduced above, N > V is the necessary condition for www.dictionaryofeconomics.com. profit to exist. In order to illuminate this fact, he called capital advanced in wages Variable Capital. So the validity of this name depends on his analysis of the source of profit. How is it Economics. justified? of For simplicity we set up the simplest model which can reflect the fundamental characteristics of a capitalistic economy; these characteristics are the prevalence of commodity Dictionary production, and the existence of class relationships between labourers and capitalists. There are Palgrave only two kinds of commodities: the means of production (commodity 1) and consumption goods New (commodity 2). In order to produce one unit of the ith commodity an amount of ai unit of means The of production and an amount of labour τ i are necessary as input. Labourers are forced to work for T hours per day and earn the money wage rate w. Macmillan. In order for profit to exist in both industries the following inequalities are necessary p1111>+apτ w (2.1) ©Palgrave p2212>+apτ w (2.2) 1600 constant and variable capital where p1 and p2 denote the price of the means of production and consumption goods respectively. As labourers work for T hours a day at money wage w per hour, they can purchase an amount B of consumption goods. Macmillan. wT BBTR= , = (2.3) Palgrave p2 where R is the real wage rate. Licensee: In the first volume of Das Kapital, Marx assumed that all commodities are exchanged at prices exactly proportionate to their unit value (equivalent exchange). Unit values of permission. commodities are determined by the following equations without tat1111= +τ (2.4) tat2212= +τ (2.5) distribute or which assure unique and positive values, provided a1 <1 (Dmitriev, 1898; May, 1949–50; copy Okishio, 1955a, 1955b). not Under the assumption of equivalent exchange, we have may You pii= λt (2.6) where λ is a constant which converts the dimension from hours to, say, dollars. Substituting (2.3) and (2.6) into (2.1) and (2.2) we get B tat>+τ t (2.7) 11112T B www.dictionaryofeconomics.com. tat>+τ t (2.8) 22122T By equations (2.4) and (2.5) and the above inequalities, we have Economics. of ⎛⎞B τ12⎜⎟10− t > (2.9) ⎝⎠T Dictionary B ⎛⎞ Palgrave τ 22⎜⎟10− t > (2.10) ⎝⎠T New Consequently we arrive at the conclusion The TBt> 2. (2.11) Macmillan. This inequality implies the existence of surplus value, because surplus value is the excess of working hours T over the amount of labour necessary to produce commodities which labourers ©Palgrave can receive with wages B. If the number of workers employed is n, then total expended labour is 1601 constant and variable capital nT and variable capital measured in terms of value is Bt2n. So the inequality (2.11) can be rewritten as NV> (2.12) Macmillan. This is the reason Marx called capital advanced in wages variable capital. Palgrave As shown above, Marx proved the theorem of the source of profit under the assumption of equivalent exchange. Though this is a clear-cut way to show the results, it has induced various Licensee: critiques. Many critics have said that Marx’s theorem would be right if all exchanges were equivalent exchange, but that in reality exchanges are seldom equivalent so his theorem cannot be valid. In order to refute such a criticism we must prove the theorem without the assumption of permission. equivalent exchange (see Okishio 1955a, 1955b, 1963, 1972, 1978; Morishima, 1973). without Mathematically, our task is to find necessary and sufficient conditions for inequalities (2.1), (2.2) and (2.3) to have non-negative solutions for p1, p2. From (2.1) we know easily that the condition distribute or 10− a1 > (2.13) copy not is necessary for p1 to be positive. This condition ensures that the society will obtain net output. may Next, substituting (2.3) into (2.1), and from (2.13) we have You pB11τ > . (2.14) p21Ta()1− On the other hand, from (2.2) and (2.3) we get p12TB−τ > . (2.15) pTa22 www.dictionaryofeconomics.com. We can easily get from (2.14) and (2.15) aB21τ Economics. <−TBτ 2 . (2.16) of ()1− a1 Inequality (2.16) is rewritten as Dictionary ⎛⎞a τ 21 Palgrave TB>+⎜⎟τ 2 . (2.17) ⎝⎠1− a1 New The By (2.17), (2.4) and (2.5) the above becomes TBt> . (2.18) 2 Macmillan. Thus we can arrive at Marx’s result. For later convenience we show another expression for the existence of surplus value. ©Palgrave Dividing (2.1) and (2.2) by w, we get 1602 constant and variable capital pp 11>+a τ (2.19) ww11 pp Macmillan. 21>+a τ (2.20) ww22 Palgrave By comparing (2.19) and (2.20), and (2.4) and (2.5), we get p Licensee: i >=ti,(1,2) (2.21) w i Equation (2.21) implies that if positive profit exists, then the price–wage ratio (the amount of permission.
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